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renewing and widening these same scarlet lines; who want to send them to the Vatican to be dyed and trimmed, and the spangles to be regilt and multiplied. Now I say, if we are going to refit, let the duffle grey have its say in the matter likewise. Let us mend up and renew the home-spun as well. Give us fair play all round. If the bright bits are to cross the water for burnishing, let the sober material be sent to our own looms, and let our working hands have the reweaving of it. If accidental remnants are to be cherished, much more the main fabric, woven as it was amidst prayers, and tears, and anguish, and blood. then, when the motley vesture is ready, raw in its colours, and without the toning of ages, I am much mistaken if John Bull do not elect to have the whole garment home-spun-to relegate the scarlet and the spangles to the Vatican, and label them- Not wanted, For this reason also, I heartily wish prosperity to this and to like institutions; prosperity-let the word be truly understood-to Dissent itself.

And

For

this, gentlemen, is your true prosperity -not to swell vastly in apparent numbers-not to flourish on the ruins of other Churches-but to give us the best example of this goodly purity, this orderly method, of the English faith; to lay up for yourselves and us such store of this garment which no moth can corrupt, that in the crisis of England's Church we may bless God that we possess Dissenters. For these reasons, gentlemen, I, an outsider, but not an unsympathising one, say heartily -may God bless and prosper this College and its work. May the plan— now only on paper-ere long become a reality, and the most sanguine wishes of its promoters be surpassed. You, gentlemen, will have other and more cherished reasons for echoing this wish. To some of you this has been your Alma Mater-to others, the object of the cherishing care of years. But

whatever reasons, and however various, may coexist in your minds, I am sure you will not overlook, but will deeply feel, those great public ones which I have mentioned. I am sure that all. public and personal, wiil conspire, and converge towards your fervent aspiration for the prosperity and enlarged usefulness of this admirable institution; and in that conviction I propose to you now to drink, Floreat Domus.'”,

T

MR. DALE ON PUBLIC PRAYER AND LITURGICAL FORMS..

Mr. Dale's address to the students of Lancashire College occupied nearly an hour in the delivery, and embraced many subjects of importance. On public prayer and liturgical forms; he is reported to have said bo

"Perhaps the most difficult of all things to acquire was a style appro priate to public prayer. To all young ministers the conduct of the devotional part of the public service occasioned the greatest perplexity and deepest humiliation, and he believed there was not a thoughtful minister of his time who had not looked wistfully in the direction of a liturgy; but, happily, the instincts of their congregations had saved them from the suggestions of their own weak

ness.

Their people might not be able to explain the feeling; ministers could not very well explain it but they were very sensible of what was a suitable or unsuitable style of prayer. The dis tinction between the ordinary language of speech and the language of prayer might be illustrated by a consideration of the distinction existing between the language of good prose and the more elevated language of good poetry. A friend of his, whose prayers were almost perfect, was sitting by his side at a public ceremony, which was com menced by a prayer read by a clergyman, and after the ceremony something was said about the prayer. Yes, be said; but why call the working people Being asked to give a

artisans ?'

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reason for his criticism, he replied that he thought no word should be used in prayer that had come into the language since the days of Queen Elizabeth. The canon appeared to be artificial, but in the case of the minister he referred to it was certainly used with admirable results. The English Church Liturgy was regarded as a perfect specimen of that class of work. It was not faultless, however; for example, he did not think it was necessary to confess and acknowledge our manifold sins and iniquities, or to speak of our trust and confidence. The collects were much better written than the fixed prayers! The English version of the Psalms appeared to him to be the best model for the language proper to be used in prayer, and instead of the arbitrary rule laid down by the friend to whom he had referred, he would recommend that as far as possible all words should be avoided which were not used in the English Bible, and that in the formation of sentences the extreme simplicity of $160 S7 aut handed 555.64

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structure of the devotional books should be imitated. A few years ago he had been much disposed to wish for the adoption of a liturgy. Subsequent reflection and experience had convinced him that it would be hardly possible to inflict a greater blow on the life and progress of their Churches than to permit free prayer to be supplanted by any such device, and he was glad to think that the desire for the use of liturgical forms, which some time ago had prevailed, was passing away, and he believed would altogether disappear. Simplicity, directness, pathos, reverence, and fervour they might perfectly well obtain in extempore prayer, and for the rest, prayers were not intended to afford high gratification to men of taste, who felt no awe in the presence of God's greatness, no keen distress at the presence of their own sin, no strong desire for mercy, and strength to live a holy life. Their prayers were not meant to be works of art; they were high spiritual acts."

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WE would not exclude from the parlour every work of fancy or of fiction. Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a work of fancy; so, also, are the “Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Holy War" of John Bunyan. A few works may be selected from the multitudinous issues of the press, whose influence is of a similar character. But the fact to be deplored is that many Church members devote themselves to fictitious literature with almost no discrimination. They are the most absorbed in those works which are the most exciting. The writers by whom they are most powerfully impressed make no pretension to religion, but often ridicule evangelical faith as bigotry, and stigmatise the Christian life as hypocrisy ; the mind, in such reading,

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is mostly occupied with trifles, it becomes conversant with false views of life, which prepare the way for disappointment and dejection. It is often sullied with impurities, which blunt those delicate sensibilities so, essential to a vigorous, divinė life. The taste is formed for what is imaginary rather than real, and the character, suffers by being founded on fiction instead of fact. The vitiated appetite is increased by the vicious food it feeds upon; a disrelish for spiritual duties is acquired by contact with what is so opposed to them; the character becomes sentimental, unnatural, and at length are sufferfalse. Many have suffered and are ing from t this cause without discer discerning the source of the evil; or else with a moral sense too enfeebled to resist it. A E. 4. Lawrence."

THE THREE ANGELS AND THEIR SERVICES.

Let us regard it as an infinite honour to be permitted to work for the Saviour. I believe it is John Newton who uses the beautiful figure of God calling three angels near His throne, and directing one of them to sit upon His throne, another to occupy a pulpit, and the third to sweep the streets of London. They would not quarrel about who was to go to the humbler position; they would be content to be where God placed them, and would rejoice to do all that they could for the glory of God.

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BEGINNING LIFE WITHOUT PRAYER.
For a young person to begin life without
prayer, is to throw off God at the very
time He is most needed. It is an attempt
to fight your way through this world's
battle without sword, or helmet, or captain.
Hundreds of young people find this out,
long after they have left beautiful child-
hood, and passed into a dark and anxious
manhood, into a desolate and hopeless
old age.
"Pulpit Echoes," by John
McFarlane, LL.D.

How ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD
MANIFESTED?

Not in temporal success. This is given

or withheld too indiscriminately to allow of our knowing love or hatred.

Not in religious profession. Judas and Demas were both visible members of the Church of God.

Not in talking, not in controversy, not in a sound creed, not in the pronunciation of the Shibboleths of a particular party. How few in answering this question would have adduced the practice of right. eousness, and the exercise of love! But such is the distinction of the apostle: "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."

DARKNESS IS NOT DEPTH.

In his schoolboy days, the poet Coleridge once went to bathe with another lad in quite a shallow stream. His comrade, vexed at being able only to wade where he wanted to swim, and noticing at a short distance a spot thickly overshadowed by the foliage of a large tree, cried out, "Ah, there's a deep place yonder, let's go there." "No, no," ,"replied Coleridge, after glancing first at the water and then at the tree, "It isn't deep, it's only dark."

Darkness is too often mistaken for depth. Many an infidel, whose shallow mind is overcast by the gloom of doubt, is considered "a very deep fellow" by his unthinking acquaintances. Not a few writers have received undue credit for profound ideas on account of an obscure style. More than one system of philosophical or theological opinion is admired merely because it is incomprehensible; superficial observers are ignorantly tempted to plunge into it because its surface, reflecting some huge and dismal error, seems to be deep when it is only dark.

Pages for our Young Friends.

JAMES MASON FITCH, A SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT.

DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-I have just read with great interest the history of a good man, who was for four-and-twenty years Superintendent of a Sunday school in Oberlin, in one of the Western States of America; and I wish to lay before you

two letters which he sent from his deathbed to the dear children whom he could no longer address with his lips. I have not space to tell you his history, but I may mention a circumstance which

the readers of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"

will understand-that he once spent eighty-five days in jail (1839) for a crime which happily can never more be committed in America-aiding in the rescue of a fugitive slave! During his imprisonment, the Oberlin Sunday school, with teachers and friends-a little army "six hundred strong"-paid him a visit. They marched from the railway-station at Cleveland to the jail with banners flying, and the band playing appropriate music. The jail and jail-yard were packed; fences, adjacent roofs, and piles of stone and timber swarmed with children, while Mr. Fitch and his fellow-prisoners addressed them. When the rescuers of the poor slave were discharged, they were welcomed to their home in Oberlin with all the honours that are usually awarded to heroes and conquerors. They were conducted to the "big church," where thanksgivings and prayers were offered, and many speeches delivered. Mr. Fitch said, "I have had my seasons of deep sadness in Oberlin. When remorseless death has sent to yonder graveyards my parents and my firstborn, when a large family of dear brothers have melted away like the snows of early spring, I have sometimes felt desolate and alone. But I see to-night that I am not friendless. This overwhelming jubilation is too much for sinful man to bear; who am I, that I should be crowned as a conqueror? I have received a wreath from the hands of youth and beauty, and God forgive me if the tears I shed are not those of humble thankfulness instead of pride. I am assured these extraordinary attentions betoken the interest in the GLORIOUS CAUSE of freedom, and not in the man. The language of my heart is, 'God forbid that I should glory save in the triumphs of truth and righteousness.""

The first of the following letters, of which I give only a part, was written (1867) at a time when many persons were deeply moved about their souls and were crowding into the kingdom of God, and Mr. Fitch's concern was that the children should crowd in likewise.

"MY DEAR CHILDREN,-A young convert at my bedside yesterday said, 'I take my Bible and go to Jesus on my

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knees.' Beautiful! Did ten words ever better express three ideas. Humble-he is on his knees; seeking for the right way he goes to Jesus; hungering for knowledge of him-he takes the Bible. Do this, my children, and you shall see a great light,' and obtain a great salvation. "What joy there now is in the presence of the angels of God over these converted souls. And is your glorified father or mother or sister or brother among the heavenly company? Do they mingle their voices in the great shout of gladness? and is your name pronounced in their song? Do they 'joy' over your conversion? If not, though there is 'joy . . . . in heaven over one sinner that repenteth,' there must be a great mourning over you who remain impenitent.

"I feel as if I should never again address our dear school. It may be only a feeling. God knoweth. No matter, if the dear children will only be persuaded to listen to wisdom's lovely voice, whose ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.'

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"Thirty-four years ago, in a little garden, in the night, I first found the Saviour. The joy of that night outweighed the continued joy of all previous nights. The beauty of that night outshone all starry nights that had ever shone before it. The remembrance of that night must be the last among earthly remembrances. Years have rolled away; the little village has become a great city; yet, as I pass through it from time to time, I'drop a train,' that I may go and drop a tear in the little garden where I first shed the tears of repentance. All is new around that sacred spot, save the old street corner, and the old remembrance, yet I still visit the place with the enthusiastic joy of the pilgrim who searches for the tomb of the Saviour. And now I give you the experience of half a lifetime. I assure you it is blessed, thrice blessed, to be a Christian, view the matter as you will. I declare to you there is nothing like it to sustain us in disappointment, to console us in suffering, and in the mortal hour to make a dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are.' Believe me,

'Tis religion that can give

Sweetest pleasures while we live;
"Tis religion must supply

Solid comforts when we die.'

"Dear teachers, watch every one of these precious scholars. Pray for them, and gather them for prayer often. Bear them on your hearts,-follow them with your tears till they are safely in the ark.' How glorious if they should be persuaded now, when the heaven and the earth seem full of salvation; but if they should harden under a reaction, then, indeed, we might say mournfully, and perhaps finally, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended,' and they are not saved.

"God help us in the great work.

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"MY DEAR CHILDREN AS I have lain upon my bed observing from my window the beautiful buds and blossoms of open. ing spring, it has caused me to remember a pleasing fancy of mine that beautiful flowers were like beautiful children, and it has led me to desire, with oh how much longing to be again in the lovely flowergarden of my own dear Sunday school.

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"You have heard me speak of a large tree that stands sentinel at the gateway of our home, that every spring blossoms full of beautiful white roses, You will see some specimen boughs which have been plucked from this tree and placed on the stand before you. If you ubinal mol them closely, perhaps some little botanists may discover that they are after all only the double-flowering cherry; but they are beautiful roses for all that," and at the close of the school the little children may divide them among themselves and take them away, and as you look upon their purity and beauty say to yourselves, This purity is an emblem of the purity of a godly child. Is my spirit, pure? Am I, in the sight of a God of love and purity, clean and white as these flowers are, and as His Holy Spirit can make me Wash me that I may be whiter than snow.' What sweet ideas of God do we obtain through these beautiful things that His hands have made! It seems to me our God must be infinitely beautiful in Himelf to

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have created such worlds of beauty as we see. Oh! who of us shall dwell in His beautiful home, and in the sunlight of His beautiful face? but in other respects these white roses are like little children. To-day the tree is covered with its snowy beauty, but to-morrow a cold storm may pass over it, and every little blossom may be seen in its place, but blighted and discoloured. So oftentimes death changes the countenance of little children and takes them away. Perhaps some are wasting away and almost ready for the narrow house appointed for all living. How precious is the thought thaty as the returning spring restores the flowers in the freshness of their beauty, so shall the good and the holy awaken in the morning of the oth-tran 12 3762 resurrection in Christ's image, clothed in a spiritual body like unto His glorious body. Oh! while in this trainingschool for Heaven, may we be disjgent to prepare for the great change that awaits us, and for mansions in the skies! Your old friend and teacher has dictated these lines while suffering severe painɗand in much weakness, but but with his soul all a-glow with bright anticipations of the resurrection morn, the spiritual body, the 16d3 einoe grind white robes of the saints, and an everlasting home where the Saviour is, and where radiant beauty shines from the Father's face, and is gloriously reflected in the faces of all the saints. My joy and peace flow through pain and suffering, because of an indwelling Saviour, through whom death was swallowed up in victory. I call you to witness, dear childgen, how often I have assured you that religion was able to do such great things for us. Who will join me in admitting their blessed Saviour to the hearts, that they, too, when death draws near, may be able sing, Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave! where is thy victory on May every one of you say, 'I will,' and may the angels in Heaven record the promise.”¶ “Your affectionate Superintendent, J. M. FITCH." lut

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The following poem, by a young friend of the Editor's, will deepen, I hope, the impression which these letters, produce. It is a true story: <p

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